The battle for talent within the EU is a story about both brain drain and gain. Of the 17 million people aged 15–64 migrating within the EU1, around 4.5 million are highly skilled workers and students. Factors known for attracting these people from their home regions are economic growth, higher wages, robust social security, linguistic and cultural similarity, relatively easier access to the labour market and higher employment rates.2
In contrast, the brain drain phenomenon arises when a region can not compete and suffers a permanent loss of skilled workers or students.
Jihozápad is a “receiving” region, with more people moving in than out. In 2017 the net migration rate was 3.0 persons per 1,000 inhabitants.
Receiving regions are generally found in northern areas of the EU, e.g Sweden, Ireland, Estonia, Denmark and the UK.
The battle for the brains
The nature of the migration flows differs considerably across Europe. Some regions attract and gain highly educated workers, while others lose them. In this section we look closer at the education level of the newcomers, compared to the domestic population. Do the migrants4 affect the supply of skilled labour?
These are some of the key findings for Jihozápad:
- Europeans that have moved to Jihozápad generally have a lower education level than workers born in Czech Republic (12 percent of EU movers had higher education, compared to 18 percent in the workforce as a whole).
- This level makes Jihozápad one of the least favoured recipients in Europe of highly educated migrants. 5
- In the past ten years the education level among EU migrants in Jihozápad has risen slightly (+2 percent points). In Czech Republic the trend is increasing even more.
- In the same time the education level among the whole workforce in Jihozápad has also increased (+7 percent points).
| Region | Share of EU migrants that have higher education | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Praha | 55% |
| 2. | Jihovýchod | 46% |
| 3. | Strední Morava | 28% |
| 4. | Severovýchod | 19% |
| 5. | Moravskoslezsko | 17% |
| 6. | Strední Cechy | 15% |
| 7. | Jihozápad | 12% |
| 8. | Severozápad | 10% |
Lower employment than domestic workforce
In general, highly educated workers in the EU that have moved to another EU country find employment at more or less the same level as the domestic workforce.
In Jihozápad the employment rate for highly educated newcomers is lower than the rate for workers born in Czech Republic (69 percent compared to 84 percent among all educated workers in Jihozápad).
| Region | Employment level among highly educted EU workers | |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Severozápad | 100% |
| 2. | Strední Morava | 94% |
| 3. | Strední Cechy | 93% |
| 4. | Moravskoslezsko | 87% |
| 5. | Praha | 86% |
| 6. | Severovýchod | 73% |
| 7. | Jihovýchod | 71% |
| 8. | Jihozápad | 69% |
What about the future? Reports on the modern knowledge economy say that high skilled immigration will continue to boost economic growth in the attractive regions. Income differentials combined with differences in living standards between regions will remain the primary driver of economic migration. The demand for skilled labour is robust. By 2025 nearly half of all new expected job openings in the EU is expected to target highly qualified workers6.